Sylvain Filippi, Chief Technology Officer at DS Virgin Racing

Electric racing cars are thought to be just the thing to inject a bit of glamour into the otherwise dull and worthy topic of electric cars and sustainability. The result is Formula E, and the trick has been to ensure that the Formula E vehicle architecture and the car’s appearance are the same as its smellier, noisier Formula 1 older brother. Sylvian tells Guy Daniels that while pure electric cars are clearly the future, much of the bleeding edge technology required still has to be invented. What better way to do that than through racing, where the glamour helps get the right message out and the competition hothouses the technology development?